Patent GB-714241-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in the manufacture of shoes and the like
Inventor: TUSA JOHN
IPC: B29D35/00
Filed: 1950-01-27
Abstract: 714,241. Moulding porous rubber soles onto footwear uppers. BRITISH BATA SHOE CO., Ltd. Feb. 4, 1952 [Jan. 27, 1950], No. 2152/50. Class 87 (2) [Also in Group VII] A machine for forming and vulcanizing porous rubber soles on boots and shoes includes a mould which is composed of parts relatively movable to and from one another to separated and united positions and a part which serves as a base whereon said parts move, the surface of the base part in all longitudinal sections being shaped to conform with the ground-engaging shape of the sole. but in all cross sections being straight, and said relatively movable parts having their surfaces formed as counterparts to the base-part surface where they bear .upon it, so that said relatively movable parts are slidable across the base part but are locked against longitudinal movement, and all said parts forming an interior which receives vulcanizable porous sole material and the bottom of which is closed by the base part. and said relatively movable parts having an open mouth with a lip against which a lasted upper-and-insole sock can abut as an airtight closure to the mouth. Two rows of component machines may be assembled in a frame to form a composite machine, surmounted by. a belt conveyer for removal of the shoes. Each component machine comprises a pair of moulds and each mould has two parts 25, 26 slidable transversely but not longitudinally on a base 27 and having an overhanging lip 56 with a bevelled upper surface 57. Each pair of moulds is opened and closed by a lever, 22, the arrangement being such that when the lever is lonvered the inner and outer parts 25, 26 are pulled apart, an outer lever 33 of each mould being connected by a link 37 to an inner lever 32 of the other mould; and when the lever 22 is raised toggles 36 are straightened so that the parts are forced together and the mould is held closed. Over each mould is a clamp 44 on a crossbar carried by a lever 40 which can be raised and lowered by a foot-lever 24. For each pair of moulds there is also a hand-lever 23 carrying a cam 47 which, in the inoperative position, is clear of a roller 50 on the inner end of the associated lever 40. Into an open mould are put an outsole 58 of pre-cured rubber. a layer of vulcanizable sponge rubber 59, a strip of vulcanizable sponge rubber 60 and a layer 62 of felt, an air space be'ng left below the lip 56. The moulds are then closed by raising the levers 22. Upper and insole units 46 are put on lasts 45 and the foot-levers 24 are operated to bring the clamps 44 down upon the lasts 45 and to lift the cam rollers 50 to the level at which they are engageable by the cams 47. The upper hand-levers 23 are operated to bring the cams 47 into action so that the lasted units 46 are forced down on the mould-enclosed sole materials, and the material of the units 46 is squeezed against the bevel 57, thus sealing the mouth of the mould. Vulcanization heat is then applied. The sponge rubber materials 59, 60 merge together, the air space below the lip 56 is filled as the materials expand and the upper-and-insole unit becomes bound to the sole and the pre-cured rubber 58 to the sponge rubber 59. According to the Provisional Specification the two components of the mould are hinged together and the upper 'unit is carried on an extending last and stretched thereon.